Ephesians 2

And God made you alive. You were dead because of the wrong things you did and the ways you failed him.

1And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;

Note"Quickened" is the old English word for made alive; to quicken something was to bring it to life. The King James uses it again in verse 5. "Trespasses" translates a word meaning a false step or a slip over a line, and "sins" a word meaning a missed mark, so the pair covers both crossing a boundary and falling short of one.

2That is how you used to live. You followed the way this world goes. You followed the ruler who holds power over the air, the spirit who is now at work in the people who refuse to obey God.

2Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:

Note"Walked" is a standard biblical idiom for the whole conduct of a life, not for physical walking. "The course of this world" translates a phrase meaning the present age and the way it runs. "The prince of the power of the air" means a ruler who commands the realm of the air; in the thought of the time, the space between earth and heaven was where hostile spiritual powers operated. "The children of disobedience" is a Semitic turn of phrase: calling someone a son or child of a quality means that quality characterizes them, so this means people marked by disobedience.

3All of us once lived that way too. We did what our bodies craved and followed the wishes of our bodies and our minds. By our very nature we deserved God's anger, just like everyone else.

3Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.

Note"Conversation" in 1611 meant a person's whole way of behaving and living among others, not talk. "Flesh" here translates a word Paul uses for unaided human nature in its weakness and self-interest, which includes but is wider than the physical body; the verse itself adds "and of the mind" to show this is not only about bodily appetites. "Children of wrath" uses the same idiom as verse 2, meaning people who stood under God's anger.

4But God is rich in mercy. Because of the great love he had for us,

4But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us,

5even when we were dead because of our sins, he made us alive together with Christ. You have been saved by God's kindness, which you did not earn.

5Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)

Note"Grace" translates a word meaning favor freely given to someone who has no claim on it. It is the key term of this passage and returns in verses 7 and 8. The King James puts "by grace ye are saved" in brackets because the phrase interrupts the sentence, breaking in ahead of the fuller statement in verse 8.

6And God raised us up together with Christ. He seated us together with Christ Jesus in the heavenly places.

6And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:

Note"Heavenly places" is plural in the Greek and means the heavenly realm in general rather than a set of locations. The same phrase runs through this letter.

7He did this so that in the ages still to come he could show how very rich his undeserved kindness is, shown by how good he has been to us through Christ Jesus.

7That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.

Note"Shew" is simply the older spelling of show. "The ages to come" translates a word for long stretches of time, the successive eras of the world's future.

8You have been saved by God's undeserved kindness, through trusting him. And this did not come from you. It is God's gift.

8For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:

9It did not come from anything you did, so no one can brag about it.

9Not of works, lest any man should boast.

10We are what God has made. He created us in Christ Jesus to do good things, which God planned ahead of time for us to spend our lives doing.

10For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

Note"Workmanship" translates the Greek word *poiema*, a thing made or fashioned; the English word poem comes from it, though here it carries no sense of poetry, only of something crafted. "Before ordained" means prepared or appointed in advance.

11So remember this. You were once Gentiles, people not born Jewish, and your bodies showed it. Those who call themselves "the circumcised", a mark cut into the body by human hands, called you "the uncircumcised."

11Wherefore remember, that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called the Circumcision in the flesh made by hands;

NoteGentiles means everyone who is not Jewish. Circumcision, the cutting away of the foreskin of a male infant, was the physical mark of belonging to Israel, commanded to Abraham, and so the two groups could be named simply by whether they bore it. "The Circumcision" and "the Uncircumcision" were used as group labels, and the second was a term of contempt. The King James adds that this circumcision is "in the flesh made by hands," that is, a mark cut into the body by people.

12Remember that at that time you were cut off from Christ. You had no part in the nation of Israel, and you were outsiders to the agreements God had promised to keep. You had no hope, and you were in the world without God.

12That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world:

NoteThe "commonwealth of Israel" means Israel as a political body with citizenship and rights, the image the chapter returns to in verse 19. A covenant is a binding agreement with set terms and obligations, the form in which God's promises to Abraham and to Israel were framed. "Without God" translates a single Greek word, *atheoi*, literally godless or having no god, the word behind the English atheist, though here it describes a condition of being cut off rather than a set of opinions.

13But now, in Christ Jesus, you who were once far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

13But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.

Note"Sometimes" in 1611 English meant formerly or once, not occasionally. "Nigh" means near. Far and near were customary shorthand for those outside Israel and those inside it, and the phrasing echoes Isaiah 57:19. "The blood of Christ" is sacrificial language and refers to his death.

14For he himself is our peace. He has made the two groups into one, and he has torn down the wall that stood between them and kept them apart.

14For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us;

Note"The middle wall of partition" would have called to mind the barrier in the Jerusalem temple that fenced off the outer court, beyond which non-Jews could not go. Inscriptions on it warned Gentiles that anyone passing further was liable to death. The Greek word behind "partition" means a fence or dividing hedge.

15In his own body he put an end to the hostility, that is, the law with its commands and rules. He did this to make the two groups into one new people joined to himself, and so make peace.

15Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace;

Note"Enmity" means active hostility between two parties. "Twain" is the old word for two. "The law of commandments contained in ordinances" refers to the law of Moses with its particular regulations, the food rules, festival days and purity requirements that in practice kept Jews and Gentiles apart. Readers differ over how much of the law the sentence means was set aside, and the Greek phrasing leaves that open.

16He also did it to bring both groups back to God in one body by dying on the cross. By the cross he killed the hostility between them.

16And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby:

Note"Reconcile" means to bring parties at war back into a settled friendly relation. The King James "having slain the enmity thereby" keeps a deliberate turn of the wording: the death on the cross is what puts the hostility itself to death.

17He came and announced the good news of peace to you who were far away, and peace to those who were near.

17And came and preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh.

Note"Preached" here translates a verb meaning to announce good news, the same root as the word gospel; it does not mean delivering a sermon. "Afar off" and "nigh" repeat the shorthand of verse 13 for Gentiles and Jews.

18For through him both of us can come to the Father, by the one Spirit.

18For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father.

Note"Access" translates a word used of being brought into the presence of a king or a god, admission granted rather than entry taken.

19So you are no longer outsiders or visitors from somewhere else. You are citizens along with God's holy people, and members of God's own household.

19Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God;

Note"Strangers and foreigners" are two legal categories, not one: an outsider with no standing at all, and a resident alien, someone living permanently in a city but without its citizenship. "Saints" in the King James does not mean unusually holy individuals; it translates a word meaning those set apart as God's own, and it is Paul's ordinary term for all believers. "Household" means the whole establishment of a house, family and dependents together.

20You are built on the foundation laid by the apostles, the men Jesus sent out, and by the prophets. Christ Jesus himself is the main cornerstone that sets the lines of the whole building.

20And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone;

NoteThe apostles were the men Jesus commissioned and sent out; the word means ones sent. Who the "prophets" are here is disputed: the phrasing can point to the prophets of Israel whose writings the church read, or to prophets active in the early church, and the Greek allows either. The "chief corner stone" is the stone set at the corner of a building from which the walls are aligned; every other stone is laid by reference to it. The underlying Greek word may instead mean the capstone set at the summit, and both readings have long been argued.

21In him the whole building is fitted together and grows into a holy temple that belongs to the Lord.

21In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord:

Note"Fitly framed together" describes stonework jointed and fitted so that the pieces lock into one structure. The temple meant is the Jerusalem temple, the one building where God's presence was held to dwell among his people.

22And in him you too are being built together into a place where God lives by his Spirit.

22In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.

Note"Habitation" means a dwelling, the place where someone actually lives, and "builded" is the older form of built.